So predictable. And so obvious that all of these things are directed at older people; the age group most likely to vote for Brexit. The whole Remain campaign is starting to look very underhand. There is a lot of targetting of personalities (Farage, BoJo etc) rather than discussion of the issues at hand. What's more, I think all of the manipulation is having the opposite effect to that desired (unless DC is a closet Brexiter)!
In many ways, Brexit would be the perfect scapegoat. The tories could get the inevitable, steep house price correction out of the way, a return to more normal interest rates, recession etc and then blame literally all of it on the Brexit, which they campaigned against....
Will be interesting to see what the turnout is, and how many "postal votes" are cast...

Another one-word answer: No.
As far as I can see, there is still effectively a need for a 10% upfront deposit from a guarantor. The only difference is that the deposit is returned after three years (I guess the idea being that the mortgage is clearly affordable if a borrower can make three years worth of repayments). Still need the cash upfront. Nothing to see here...

Briefly, a work colleague is in the process of selling his house and the buyer, a cash buyer agreed a price that was near enough the same as the asking price. The buyer has contacted my colleague to say that he is going to have to withdraw his offer as he can no longer afford it. Apparently, the buyer was unaware of the stamp duty changes for second homes! There were loads of people interested at first and it is actually a really nice house, but it seems all of the potential buyers have rapidly evaporated!
Meanwhile, my landlord is selling up and I am seeing prices already starting to slide in North Yorkshire. I only deal with the landlord through the letting agent but there really seems to be a lot of urgency on the sale (and hence, the getting rid of me). I had an estate agent round here to value the place so I was sure to point out absolutely *all* of the many defects, and got into quite a frank discussion with him... he reckons the changes will have a "big effect round here on the supply of rental properties" which I took as a euphemism for landlords selling up in droves and a flood of supply, driving down house prices....
Hold on guys, this could be the big one!
Interesting times

That will not for some Buy To Let mortgages taken out from from Monday, when the Mortgage Credit Directive comes in:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-3296957/How-know-consumer-professional-buy-let-borrower.html

My landlord has owned the house for years (bought the place for around 35k and it's now "worth" at least three times more than that). Today I've been issued with a section 21 and have 2 months to move out. I already have somewhere else to go but I do wonder if clause 24 is spooking a lot of landlords who might not otherwise be affected! I can't believe they have any meaningful mortgage on the place given that they are both solicitors... Interesting times! What makes it perhaps more interesting is that they already knew I was moving out at some point so obviously are in a bit of a hurry to offload...

If "the powers that be" really are controlling thing, and want to feather their own nests, it is possible to make a LOT more money in a cyclical market. They just have to make sure they get out in time. It could be that somebody has now decided that a correction is due

I think a lot of people (including many now homeowners) have experienced the "service" provided by BTL landlords, and, even worse, letting agents. I'm sure the average person on the street probably thinks landlords have got exactly what was coming to them! Targeting landlords is a vote winner, whether the 118 lot like it or not. The fact that it's all happening in slow-motion makes it even funnier. Clever landlords are busy offloading properties instead of whingeing about it :-D
Don't like the rules.... don't play the game :-)

By the sound of it, Chris is (perhaps predictably) getting quite a bit of flak for his comments from the landlord brigade. He seems like a thoroughly decent guy who's not afraid to speak his mind. His email address is Christopher.Devine@wiltshire.gov.uk if you want to email messages of support. So refreshing to have somebody come out and say this, especially so bluntly, as it shows that he is passionate about this.

The SDLT thing means that people will need 3% more for a BTL deposit doesn't it? Isn't stamp duty payable upfront? And it's not like you can add it to the mortgage? I think it will have quite an effect, even in the north! Apart from anything else, it's the second unexpected assault on BTL/landlords in only 6 months. I'd be crapping myself if I were a leveraged landlord right now...The SDLT would have just knocked 3% off the value of my BTL empire unless I could somehow sell to the mythical "first time buyer". Landlords are the only people that have been buying for the past few months round here from what I can see! Nobody else can afford to!!

"The Powers That Be" (if you believe that all of this is being orchestrated) stand to make a LOT more money in a cyclical market rather than a perpetual bull market. They will sell up before the crash (being openly talked about in the media now) and then jump back in once things have bottomed out. Everything points to a crash being pretty much inevitable. Just a question of when.
Personally, I believe things will be heading firmly south within two years and any falls will be exacerbated by the BTL mob selling up en masse and attempting to cash in their chips. It's going to be a real mess and a lot of "investors" are going to get badly burned. Housing is far more of an investment class than it's ever been (and therefore more exposed to bubbles/crashes). BTL landlords might be very happy to accept piss-poor yields in a rising market, but watch them dump properties pretty quickly once some downward momentum gets going. Most landlords are after capital gains...
It's going to be carnage :-/
Stock up on popcorn for 2016/2017 I reckon!